


The House Tournament

by CloakedSparrow



Series: Collected Bat-Family Stories [33]
Category: Batman (Comics), Detective Comics (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Super Sons (Comics), Superman/Batman (Comics)
Genre: Adopted Children, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Bat Family, Batdad, Bruce loves his kids, F/M, Family, Friendship, Gen, Minor Clark Kent/Lois Lane, No Romance, No Smut, One Big Happy Family, Past Character Death, Short One Shot, Video & Computer Games, super family, the Batkids have friends, they have unofficially adopted Bizarro & Conner, they're all adorable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-11 00:46:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15303732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CloakedSparrow/pseuds/CloakedSparrow
Summary: Dick decided that their family, and several friends, should take a Hogwarts House quiz after Alfred got all the kids to check out the Harry Potter books. They ended up with pretty decent house teams once it was all done. When they realized this, it was decided that an multi-house tournament was needed. In order to balance out the teams, they decided on a video game tournament.In which the Waynes, the Kents, and a few other friends have a team video game tournament.





	The House Tournament

**Author's Note:**

> This follows the last story in the series, Better Late Than Never, but it can be read alone too.

Dick hadn’t played video games when he was in the circus. After he moved into the Manor, Bruce asked if he wanted one of the consoles he’d seen other kids Dick’s age enjoying. Dick had thanked him for the offer, but he wasn’t interested. Between his gymnastics, his training as Robin, his new father and butler-slash-grandfather-slash-tutor, his new friends, and his new school, he had a pretty full life. 

Later on, after he joined the Titans, Wally introduced him to video games, particularly co-op games and _those_ he really enjoyed. Playing with a friend made the games so much better. He still preferred other activities, but he enjoyed video games from time to time after that. He especially liked games he could play in short bursts between said other activities.

He still played with his siblings or friends occasionally. He still preferred co-op games and he liked platforms and metroidvania titles over the gritty, realistic open world sort of games. Despite his personal preferences, he always made it a point to check out any games that one of his siblings or good friends was particularly into. 

Jason hadn’t owned a gaming console before he moved into the Manor, but he played at arcades whenever he scrapped up the money or had an opportunity to rig one of the machines to give him free games. He loved video games, loved the way they let him escape into a different world for a while. One where everything was fair and colorful, the bad things could always be fixed, and villains were beaten. He’d been excited to be able to play at home, once he could call the Manor that. It was the first time he could play games that had long, complex scenarios and storylines. 

Usually, he played alone. He liked all manner of games, but his favorites were open world adventures and JRPGs. He especially liked it when games gave the players choices that effected the outcome. He’d play the same game through multiple times just to see each of the different endings. He didn’t care if the games had the highest quality graphics or blocky pixel sprites, if it had a good story and good mechanics, he was in.

Sometimes, he played with Roy, or Dick, or even Bruce. He’d been happily surprised the first time he asked Bruce if he wanted to play and the man had sat down on the floor right next to him and asked what they were playing and how the game worked. When he first came back from the dead, he didn’t play at all, he was always focused on other things. Since returning to Gotham, he played with Tim a lot and introduced Bizarro to video games. He sometimes played with Dick, Cassandra, or Roy. As far as he knew, Bruce never played at all anymore. 

Cassandra had been introduced to video games by her brothers. At first, she didn’t quite see the point in them. She saw enough violence and adventure in her everyday life that she didn’t enjoy emulations of those things very much. Then, Dick brought over Mario Party to play with her, Tim, and Alfred one day and she’d had fun. She got it after that.

Since then, she’s explored other genres. She likes sports games, racing games, mini games, and simulation games. She can play titles like Stardew Valley or Pokemon Go for years. She’s amazed at some of the places she’s found Pokemon and she built a cabin on her farm for Harper’s character to stay in. They now joke that they’re ‘farm wives’ which tends to confuse people in public, but they never bother to explain. 

She rarely plays for long sessions, and she never cares whether she completes a game or not. She just has fun every time. She’s just as happy to play by herself as she is to play with her family and friends. 

Tim spent a lot of time alone as a small child and had discovered video games early on. He enjoyed delving into new worlds and being able to explore and solve problems. He liked open world games, RPGs, and puzzle games the best. He played different types of games depending on whether he was playing alone or with someone else, usually Alfred or one of his siblings. 

He didn’t play by himself much anymore. Between his day job, his studies, his cases, and his general thirst for knowledge, he didn’t have much free time. He started playing fairly regularly with Jason by accident and he enjoyed it a lot. He sometimes played with Conner, and even their little brothers. He found he got along better with Damian when they were playing a game than when they were actually fighting side by side. 

Damian hadn’t seen the point of video games until Dick took him to an arcade one day and insisted they try out _all_ the games. They’d only made it halfway through the arcade before they stumbled upon Cheese Vikings and Damian was hooked. Dick happily put in token after token at the look of focus and excitement on his youngest sibling’s face. 

Damian was the pickiest about games of all the Waynes. He liked MMORPGs, strategy games, and competitive co-op titles, but only _some_ of them. He liked defeating his enemies in an environment where he didn’t get into trouble or had to worry about going too far. He enjoyed playing by himself against nameless opponents, or with Jon, Dick, or -to his surprise- Tim. Eventually, he started playing with his other siblings or their friends sometimes too.

Alfred knew of video games since they first came about, but he never played until Tim came along. He hadn’t expected to enjoy them. In fact, he’d only taken an interest because he cared for Tim and saw that the boy didn’t have anyone to play with. Bruce couldn't bring himself to play after Jason passed, and Tim had to keep too many secrets from his school friends to invite any of them over to the Manor. 

To Alfred’s surprise, he enjoyed the games Tim picked very much. At first, he was a little confused by the blend of futuristic technology and medieval weaponry they combined, but he soon got into the games and started having fun. His favorite part was simply spending time with Tim and seeing the boy behave like a child for a little while. 

Alfred rarely played games on his own, as he had a great many things to do and quite a few hobbies beyond his duties, but whenever one of his surrogate grandchildren asked him to play, he was game. He always had fun. And he always loved the time he spent with them. 

Bruce hadn’t played video games much. Ever. He’d always had other things to focus on and didn’t find them all that interesting. Dick hadn’t showed much interest in them either until he was older and then he usually played with his friends, so Bruce left him to it. 

Jason had been different. He loved video games. The first time he’d asked Bruce to play, it had been a casual offer, but Bruce never considered refusing. He sat down on the floor, beside his son, and took the proffered controller right away. He’d enjoyed himself more than he had in years, but it had very little to do with the game. He played any time Jason asked.

After Jason died, Bruce changed, and not for the better. He tried to keep Tim at a distance for too long. During that time, he knew the boy enjoyed video games, knew he would love it if Bruce sat down to play a game with him, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Every time he saw the bright pixels and heard the catchy theme music, he just thought of Jason. He always made an excuse to leave. 

He didn’t play again until after Jason came home. The first time he picked up a controller again had been with Clark. Their youngest sons had taken to playing together and the two fathers decided to check out one of the games after the boys went to sleep, to see what it was about. After that, he only played occasionally, with Damian, either just the two of them or teamed up with Clark and Jon. 

Then one day, Dick decided that their family, and several friends, should take a Hogwarts House quiz after Alfred got all the kids to check out the Harry Potter books (some certainly weren’t into them as much as others, but they still held their end during conversations). They ended up with pretty decent house teams once it was all done. When they realized this, it was decided that an multi-house tournament was needed. In order to balance out the teams, they decided on a video game tournament. 

Dick, Jon, Bizarro, Bruce and Clark (the latter two had yet to read the books but were perfectly willing to take the test if it made their kids happy) made up their Hufflepuff house. Jason, Cassandra, Conner, and Barbara made up Gryffindor. Kate, Damian, Harper (who had already read the books and was delighted to talk to Cass about them), and Roy ended up in Slytherin. Alfred, Tim, Luke (whom Dick discovered had gotten into the books when his sisters sent him copies while he was stationed overseas), and Lois (who had read the books simply to know what her boys were talking about) were in Ravenclaw.

The best part of having the competition via the Cheese Vikings multiplayer mode was that they didn’t have to arrange for everyone to be in the same place to have it. They made sure anyone who hadn’t played the game before had some time with it, and the veteran players showed those who’s never played video games how the games worked. Then it was just a matter of making sure everyone had gaming systems with Cheese Vikings installed, an account for online play, and a headset for communication. None of that was difficult when you, your father, your friend, or your friend’s father was a billionaire. The Kents even received a large television so they could see their characters better and a second console to hook up to their existing television so Bizarro wouldn’t get confused by the split screen. 

Dick, Cassandra, and Harper set up in Dick’s apartment in Bludhaven. Jason and Tim were at their place in Gotham. Bruce, Kate, Damian, and Alfred were at the Manor. Luke, Roy, and Barbara were each at their own homes. Clark, Lois, Bizarro, Conner, and Jon were all at the Kent family farm. 

“Everyone signed in?” Dick asked over his headset. They were actually using their phones on a conference call from Bruce’s rather than the in-game communication, since it was much more secure (and the non-gamers were more familiar with that). 

“Yeah, we’re ready to go.” Jason responded for him and Tim. 

“Ready to kick some Gryffindor asses, right team?” Kate’s smirk was audible in her voice.

As was Damian’s when he replied. “Yes!”

“They’re going down!” Added Harper, even though she was sitting on the same sofa as Dick and Cassandra. “Sorry guys, but I’m in it to win.”

“So are we.” Cassandra assured her friend while Dick made a sound of enthusiastic approval. Both reactions clearly made their friend even more excited to play.

“Ready when everyone else is.” Luke commented.

“Same here.” Added Barbara. 

“I got Lian to sleep and I’m ready to go.” Roy sounded excited. Most of his nights these days began with tea parties and story time and ended with him shooting arrows at criminals before getting home in time to get his daughter ready for school, so he was happy for the reprieve. 

“Hang on just a second, I’m not sure-” Clark sounded puzzled but still jovial.

Lois cut in quickly after. “Hey Conner, could you handle that before Clark locks us out of our account again? Thanks. I’m still untangling these…”

“Me sorry.” Bizarro sounded remorseful and a little embarrassed. 

“Its not your fault. Tangled wires are the bane of modern technology.” Lois assured her adopted son. “Just give me a second and you’ll be good to go.” In the span of half a second her tone changed from reassuring to warning. “Jon, _I see you_. No jumping on the sofa.”

“I swear she has super vision sometimes.” Jon spoke quietly into the phone. That earned him a few laughs.

A second later, Conner’s voice sounded over the line. “We’re signed in.” He began explaining how he’d done it to his father as the others continued getting situated. 

“We’re ready too.” Bruce commented, sounding somewhere between his Batman voice and his usual voice.

That seemed to make Jon excited. “Mr Wayne is ready to bring it!”

Bruce chuckled quietly. “While we’re playing, it might be easier if you call me Bruce, Jon.”

“Cool. Bruce is ready to bring it!” The boy called out in response. “Go Hufflepuff!”

“Go Hufflepuff!” Clark and Bizarro echoed. 

Damian scoffed. “As if a snake would be defeated by a badger.”

“Don’t badgers hunt snakes?” Jon asked. 

“You’re thinking of a mongoose.” Tim replied calmly. 

“Oh…right.” The boy was briefly silent before continuing on with his enthusiasm. “Well we’re still gonna win!”

Harper responded. “Slytherin’s let hear a battle cry!” 

“What’s a Slytherin battle cry?” Damian asked, perturbed. “Snakes don’t make any sound.”

“They hiss.” Kate offered.

“Okay, Slytherin’s hiss at our soon to be defeated enemies!” This time, Harper’s rallying was met by a loud _Sss_ sound as Damian, Kate, and Roy joined her in a long hiss. 

That was followed by laughter from several of the other players and the sound of multiple phones taking a photo or recording. 

“Fine, then.” Barbara sounded like she was smiling and trying not to laugh. “Gryffindor’s _roar_!” The sound of her, Cassandra, Conner, and Jason roaring was definitely more impressive than the others’ hissing, but equally funny.

“Before anyone gets any ideas, I am _not_ making bird sounds.” Luke commented. 

“Agreed, Master Fox.” Alfred seconded. 

Lois agreed. “Thank you.”

“Timbers, did you want to caw-caw or anything?” Jason’s tone was somewhere between teasing and checking. 

“No, thanks. I’m good.” Tim’s dry, amused tone was worthy of Alfred.

“What about us Hufflepuffs?” Jon asked. It was followed by a moment of silence that was eventually broken by Dick.

“Hey Timmy, what sound do badgers make?”

His little brother answered right away. “They make a lot of sounds, actually. The most unique is their churr. Its essentially a mating call. Its an 'insistent, deep, throaty, vibrant purr with an oily, bubbling quality'. They also purr, wail, snarl, growl, kecker, chitter, yelp, snort, coo, hiss, bark-”

“What kind of bark?” Dick cut in.

“Like a small dog.” Tim replied. 

“That’ll work.” Clark responded.

Before any more battle cries could be sounded, Luke cut in. “Jason, is he looking this up or does he just know all this for some reason?”

“He just knows.” Jason answered, sounding somewhere between amused and reverent. “I find it best not to question how or why. Just accept that Timmy somehow has read up on almost everything.”

“Even _badgers_?” Kate asked. “Please tell me some lunatic didn’t loose a bunch of mutant badgers in Gotham while I was out of town sometime.”

“No. I used to have a subscription to Zoobooks when I was little.” Tim explained. 

“Dick, did you know that or did you just assume he’d know what kinds of noise badgers make?” Roy questioned. 

“No, I just figured he’d be the most likely to know.” Dick replied. A smile entered his voice. “And I was right.”

“So are we doing the churr or the bark?” Jon questioned.

“I’m game for either.” Dick replied happily.

“No like churr. Like bark.” Answered Bizarro.

“Why don’t we just play?” Bruce commented instead of answering. 

“Come on, Bruce, its for team morale.” Clark sounded like he was having fun already. “You know I’d do it for your kids.”

Bruce released a heavy sigh. “Fine.”

“Yay!” Jon’s excitement was echoed by Bizarro. “Huffleuff bark!”

Clark, Dick, Bizarro, Bruce, and Jon each barked. It was the least impressive of the team battle cries, considering none of them seemed to settle on the same type of bark. 

When they were finished, Jason spoke over the line. “Alfred, Kate, please tell me one of you recorded that.”

“Naturally, Master Jason.” Alfred sounded pleased.

Kate scoffed at the suggestion that she might have missed the opportunity. “Of course. You know how rare it is for me to see my cousin playing. I’ll send it to you when we’re done.”

“I got Dick, if you want that one too.” Harper offered.

“You’re my favorite of my little siblings’ friends, Harper.” Came the reply. 

“Of course.” She answered with a smirk clear in her voice.

“Okay, can we start playing now?” Lois asked. “Not all of us let our kids stay up past midnight.”

“Yeah, we should start before it gets too late.” Roy agreed. There was no school the next day, but apparently that didn’t mean his schedule was clear. “I got to get up early enough to help plan a Brown Bat Explorers Weekend tomorrow.”

“What the hell is that?” Jason asked.

“Its a camping trip.” Roy replied. He continued without pause, anticipating his friend's response. “Don’t ask me why they don’t just call it that. You don’t ask why Timmy knows about badgers, I don’t ask why they have to come up with cute names for everything in Lian’s Brown Bat troupe. Its been a tradition for years and it makes my kid happy.”

“Fair enough.” Jason didn’t sound bothered by the answer. “So is everyone finally ready, then?” After a chorus of affirmations, he got down to business. “Okay, Gryffindors are red, Slytherins are green, Ravenclaws are blue, and Hufflepuffs are yellow. The first game is capture the flag. Starting... _now_.”

Capture the flag lasted a lot longer than some of the players expected and ended up being very close, with Slytherin winning. That was followed by a scavenger hunt that Hufflepuff won. Next was a puzzle quest that Ravelclaw beat in record time. Then they finished it off with an elimination round that Gryffindor won.

“Wait...did we just manage a four way tie?” Roy asked.

“We have Waynes on every team.” Luke responded. “Of course we did.”

“Oh come on, there _has_ to be a winner.” Harper sounded both amused and irritated. 

“We could tally the points from each round and see who has the most overall?” Tim made a suggestion.

Harper laughed. “Leave it to the Ravenclaw to suggest math as a solution.”

“I don’t hear any Slytherins offering suggestions.” Luke pointed out.

“That’s the simplest way to break the tie.” Tim sounded unperturbed. “Unless everyone has time for a tie breaker round?”

“Its already past Jon’s bedtime.” Lois pointed out. 

“We could have it another night.” Dick reminded the others. “We could either repeat one of the games we played tonight, or have house champions compete in one on one battles.”

“Oh, I like that idea.” Harper sounded intrigued. Then she quickly added “I nominate Damian for Slytherin.”

“Seconded.” Kate agreed readily. 

“What do you say, Little D?” Roy asked. “You’re our strongest player.”

“Naturally.” Damian replied, sounding pleased by the assessment. “I accept.”

“I nominate Jason for Gryffindor.” Cassandra stated. 

“Seconded.” Barbara replied quickly. “Sorry Conner, but he’s been playing longer than you and it kinda shows.”

“No, that works.” Conner didn’t sound annoyed. He sounded like he knew something the others didn’t.

“Looks like you’re going down, Little D.” Jason commented.

Damian scoffed. “I have more experience with this game than you have, Todd. You don’t have a chance.”

Jason didn’t seem concerned. “Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that, brat.”

“I nominate Tim for Ravenclaw.” Lois announced. 

“Great.” Damian grumbled. “He has the highest scores on every game in town.” 

“Conner’s told me.” She answered. “That’s why I’m nominating him.”

“I second the notion, Miss Lane.” Alfred replied at the same time Luke simply said, “Seconded.”

“ _That’s_ why you didn’t want to be champion.” Jason sounded amused. 

As did Conner. “Yep.” 

“Hmm...” Clark puzzled over the line. “Who should we have represent Hufflepuff?”

“Either Dick or Jon would make the most sense.” Bruce commented. “They have more experience with the game.”

There was a brief moment of silence before Clark spoke again, not bothered that his friend hadn’t realized he was playing with his kid. “Then I nominate Jon!”

“What do you say, kiddo?” Dick asked, sounding excited. “You up for it?”

“Yeah!” The enthusiastic response came immediately. 

Dick chuckled. “Then I second.”

“Awesome!”

“You realize this means you’ll have to play against me, Todd, or Drake, correct?” Damian pointed out, none to gently, to his friend.

“Yeah, but I’m still house champion.” Jon replied, not sounding put out at all by his friend’s tone. “Besides, we all know Tim’s gonna win anyway. Him and Conner always win when we play against them and he kicked all our butts the last time we had a free for all.” Jon sounded surprisingly fine with his assumed upcoming failure.

Harper was the first to say anything after that assessment. “Tim; you, me and Cassandra gotta play sometime.”

“Sounds good to me.” Tim sounded happy to have a potential new gaming friend. 

“Conner can play too, if he wants.” Cassandra added. Harper voiced her agreement.

“I’m in.” Conner replied.

"Cool." Tim sounded happy about that too.

Jon spoke up next. “Damian, do you wanna play together to practice for the tie breaker game?”

“If you feel you need practice, I’d be willing.” Damian sounded like he was working to keep his voice level.

“He looks excited to play more, Jon.” Kate revealed. 

Damian’s expected denial came swiftly. “I do not!” 

“Well the practice is going to have to wait until tomorrow because its past our bedtime here.” Lois cut in. “The cows don’t fed themselves in the morning.”

Jon protested immediately. “But Damian has cows too and his dad isn’t making him go to bed!” 

“Jon, we’ve gone over this.” Clark responded, his tone firm but caring. “Damian’s dad isn’t the best argument for a healthy lifestyle.”

“Fine...goodnight, everyone. I had a lot of fun!” With that, Jon disconnected his phone.

“Goodnight, everyone.” Lois echoed. She waited until several of the others had replied before ending the call. 

“Bizarro go now. ‘Night.”

“’Night big guy.” Jason replied.

“Good night.” Tim echoed, followed by their other siblings and friends.

“Sorry about that, Bruce.” Clark stated as soon as his son could no longer be heard in the background. “But we have to enforce a bedtime and its a little hard when his best friend doesn’t have the same schedule. Cutting off arguments-”

“Clark, stop.” Bruce interrupted. “Its fine. I understand. I have kids too.” He didn’t sound bothered, nor did he sound particularly reassuring but his friend was used to that. 

“Of course.” Clark sounded relieved and perhaps a little endeared. “Thank you, Bruce. Good night everyone, this was a lot of fun.”

During the chorus of ‘good night’s to Clark, Conner’s voice came over the line. “’Night, Tim.”

“’Night, Con.” His best friend replied before Conner ended the call. 

“What, he doesn't care if the rest of us have a good night?” Jason suddenly commented, but he sounded more amused than annoyed. 

“I’m calling it a night too.” Roy commented. “’Night everyone, _including_ Jason, since he’s apparently sensitive.”

Jason laughed. “’Night. Have fun with the Brown Bat Whatever Weekend thing.”

“Oh, yeah. Nothing those little girls like more than camping with s’mores and stories. ’Till a spider gets in their tent, anyway.” While the others were laughing, Roy ended the call.

Barbara and Luke said their good nights and left as well, although the likelihood that either of them was going to sleep was low. Kate directly stated that she had some work to do before saying goodbye. Alfred ended the call with well-wishes for the others before walking her out. 

Jason left the call next. “Well, Timbers and I have some things to do, so bye.”

“We’ll talk to you later.” Tim added. “It was good game.” He sounded pleased.

“It was.” Bruce agreed, sounding the same. “You two be careful out there.”

“We will.” Tim answered before exiting the conference call.

“Its getting late. We should be heading out too.” Dick commented. “Thanks for playing with us, Dad.”

“I’m glad I did.” Bruce meant it. He also had that little touch of extra pride his tone took on whenever one of his kids called him ‘dad’.

Cassandra and Harper offered their good nights before leaving too. Bruce told them and Dick to be careful as well. Then he ended the call entirely and turned to Damian, who was turning off their gaming system. 

“Are you up to heading out tonight?” He always asked now, rather than assume he knew what his kid should do. Although if he could tell his son was off, tired, overworked, or ill, he’d refuse to let him go out no matter what the boy wanted. Or if Damian were grounded. Tonight though, it occurred to him that his son could just be tired from the night’s excitement or he might want to continue playing or try going to bed early to get up and feed his cows like his friend.

Instead, Damian smirked and ran to the Batcave, with his dog bounding along beside him as he shared his owner’s enthusiasm.

Bruce smiled. He hadn’t raised each of his kids quite the same so far, and he knew he made his share of mistakes along the way. He also knew anyone would have to acknowledge that he’d ended up with some very impressive kids. They were hard working, determined, loyal, brave, cunning, clever, caring, and independent. The fact that they were all about to head out to protect people was further proof of that. 

If they wanted to play the occasional video game with their father, he was more than happy to accommodate them. 

In fact, he was looking forward to the next game. He thought he might even ask Damian if he wanted to practice with him too. Not that his opinion on video games had changed much. He just enjoyed playing with his kids.

Truth be told, he enjoyed doing just about anything with his kids.


End file.
